CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW
2.8.2 Globalisation
Phaahla (2006) mentions that language is an ever present badge of membership, reinforced in the subtleties of linguistic style. He also outlines that the process of using one’s language to express solidarity involves evolution and maintenance of both group and individual identities.
When defining individual identity, culture and community membership, language plays an imperative role. Phaahla further stipulates that bearing in mind the globalisation wave sweeping the world today, the sophistication of local black languages should be significantly stepped up from their normal range of mundane to an economic discourse so that mother tongue speakers can take charge of their languages and compete locally in terms of being generally innovative and competent in the domain of business not only locally but also globally.
The use of indigenous languages would empower Africans to grip economic concepts and prove what they have mastered intellectually in a language that they are familiar with. Phaahla (2006:152) posits that native African language speakers believe that African languages are inherently lacking in capacity to serve as media of communication for the purpose of higher learning, economic activity, social mobility or any other serious public business.
In many African communities, African languages are only used as a way of communication.
Singh (2009:127) writes:
In the rural African dominated schools the respective indigenous mother- tongue is generally the mode of communication. In African dominated townships, a mixture of approaches of only English, only mother-tongue or bi- lingual teaching is done.
Singh (2009:128) illustrates that languages have died out and disappeared at a dramatic and steadily increasing pace in many parts of the world. The language situation in South Africa is theoretically that all official languages are equal while practically African languages are not given status equally to English. African languages might be in danger if nothing is done to make sure
56
that equal status is given to all official languages. There is a need to teach African indigenous languages to people abroad in order to connect these people globally and to facilitate good communication when doing business regarding global matters. Singh further states that as English and Afrikaans speaking Whites challenged each other for political control in South Africa, their respective languages did not only become the media through which their aspirations and goals were articulated but also what they should represent ideologically. English is a language which comes from England and Afrikaans from Netherland. These two aforementioned groups of people view their languages as superior to African languages. According to Singh (2009:129), while successive governments, since the early twentieth century, created the impression that they supported the survival of African languages, their real agenda was to subtly undermine and suppress them. Indigenous languages also need contact with countries from which English and Afrikaans speaking people originally come from. Trading with global countries can benefit indigenous languages too. According to Davids (2013:60), studies have indicated the benefits of global contact such as communication with the African Union (Au), the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Organization (UNO). Economic globalisation refers to the intensification of a global market operating across national and international markets. Sources linked with market competition are technological change and multinational competition.
Education forms an integral part of globalisation. Education is done through the medium of instruction. In that respect globalisation is also affected by language use and the knowledge of different languages including indigenous languages (Davids, 2013:61).
Languages are not regarded only as tools of communication but they are vehicles of cultural expression. Diakite (2005:1) asserts:
Language is well known to be an extremely important vehicle for knowledge and know- how. It is the driving force of production and productivity in a modern economy, however based on science and technology. Unfortunately, the language situation in Africa is, generally speaking, characterised by the supremacy of a few European languages inherited from colonisation, in most public activities (administration, education, health, justice, trade etc.).
Most Africans are not well informed about the activities that are taking place globally. The main reason for this is that African languages are do not get much attention in the same way as those in Europe do. Diakite (2005:7) postulates that ‘this will happen only if the information is
57
given in the languages they are most familiar with. In other words, Africa and Africans will develop with their languages’.
Herriman and Burnaby (1996:29) outlines that:
The established languages of the courtroom in South Africa are Afrikaans and English.
Use has been made of interpreters down the years when dealing with evidence presented by someone who could not speak either languages and the courts have sometimes distinguished themselves by not taking translation at face value.
The above position holds for the Capricorn and Mopani district municipalities as well. In general, there are major inadequacies in the current practice. Most of the magistrates, judges and public prosecutors are White and few have any command of an African languages or any intimate understanding of South African’s range of conventions (Burnaby, 1996:29).
Furthermore, interpreters employed to interpret from English or Afrikaans to African languages do not have professional training which would make them vigilant to the ethics of their craft, to cultural distinction in translation and the exigencies of discourse in the field. Nida and Taber (1974:6) posit that translation is the transformation of text representation from one language into another. It is the end result of the process of transferring the meaning of a written text from one language into another. On the other hand, language interpreting or interpretation is the intellectual activity of facilitating oral and sign-language communication, either simultaneously or consecutive. Interpreting is a communication act whereby utterances in a source language are rendered in a target language at formal or informal settings. It is translation that conveys the meaning of the original, or source text, by using equivalent language and the forms and structures of the target language, in order to produce a translation that reads like an original.
During the apartheid period, translation and interpretation were not the main issues since the only official languages were English and Afrikaans and most of African languages, such as Sepedi, Xitsonga, Tshivenda, isiZulu, isiXhosa, and isiNdebele were downgraded. By the middle of 1994 translation and interpreting services were essential. Additionally, South Africa is a democratic country which has 11 official languages which should be used equally (Wolhuter, 2013:105). As in many other areas in South Africa, court cases are presented in English. This
58
is a problem as majority of people speak English. Even though interpreting services are provided, the accused may end up sentenced because the misinterpretation of information by the interpreters. Normally, people speak better in their mother tongue and if they can be granted a chance to speak in their home languages, they would have a fair trial.